Zagg Invisible Shield Glass: Perhaps the best investment for a new iPhone

I’m such a bad iPhone(s aapl) owner. I generally take good care of my handsets, mainly because I sell them to upgrade from one iPhone to the next. But I’m not big into cases. And screen protectors? Don’t get me started: They’ve generally made my screen look or feel worse in the past. After installing a Zagg Invisible Shield Glass protector on my iPhone 5s, though, I’m having second thoughts.

Zagg sent me a Glass protector to try out and I wish I had one when I first bought my iPhone 5s. The protector itself is made from tempered glass, which should completely protect my iPhone’s screen from scratches. And a scratch-free iPhone can be sold for more money than an iPhone that shows some wear. You can remove the protector at any time; I’d do that before selling my iPhone 5s.

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The Glass protector was simple to install; it took all of three minutes. The process involves cleaning your iPhone display with an included damp cloth, drying the display with a microfiber cloth — also included — and then placing the Glass protector on your iPhone. Once attached, you simply rub from the center to the edges to remove any trapped air bubbles. The end result? You can’t tell there’s a screen protector at all.

You’ll be adding 0.4 millimeters of thickness to your iPhone with this screen protector, but you’d be hard pressed to realize it. The Glass is silky smooth and has rounded edges. My iPhone 5s display is just as clear and bright as it was before; viewing angles are unchanged. Zagg says the Glass protector is oil-resistant and I’d agree: I see very few smudges or fingerprints on my iPhone display. And my hope is that in the case of a drop or fall, the tempered glass protector will break before the actual iPhone 5s screen cracks because that’s not cheap to replace. Zagg has a lifetime guarantee on the Glass protector.

The Zagg Invisible Shield Glass screen protector for iPhone 5s costs $34.99 directly, which is on the high side for such a product. But this is tempered glass, not a layer of strong plastic like many other protectors. The company also offers a Glass protector for the iPhone 4 and up as well as several Samsung and HTC Android phones such as the new Galaxy S 5 and HTC One M8. For $49.99 you can even buy a large one for the iPad Air.

Overall, I’m pretty impressed by how invisible this solution is, and even though I typically pass on such products, I think Glass is a solid investment to virtually eliminate scratches on my iPhone 5s display.

I manage about 200 iPads for a community college and have had the best experience far and away with the Clearcal screen protectors. Before these, we’d see about 2 cracked screens per month, regardless of brand. Since we’ve been using the Clearcals (over 1 year), not a single broken screen. Our Apple rep recommended them, and it’s very apparent why.

My wife installed one on her 5S, I liked it so I ordered one for my Nexus 5. Installed it no problem, but the next day it peeled off. Talked to Zagg and they sent me a new one… same thing happened… not sure what the deal is but I couldn’t get one to stay on the Nexus 5.

Spigen’s been offering refined glass screen protectors for various Apple and Android products for quite some time now. Their latest GLAS.tR NANO SLIM screen protector comes in at 0.23mm with rounded edges for better comfort.